Tax Update Blog: Permalink

« Previous · Tax Update Blog Home · Next »

CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG

March 31, 2006

After seeming to resign himself to a compromise on estate tax repeal, Treasury Secretary Snow yesterday "clarified" his position:

Another aspect of tax relief that I think is important to touch on here today since it is often on the minds of American taxpayers, in particular families and small businesses, is the estate tax, the death tax. This tax is without a doubt one of the larger undue burdens weighing on taxpayers today. And I want to make it clear that Congress needs to pass legislation that permanently repeals the death tax, without compromise.

The remarks, which you can read in full here, are stronger than those he made earlier in the week to the Tax Executives Institute:

"I would hope that we'd have the chance to test the political strength of that idea and hopefully prevail," Snow said of estate tax repeal. "But if not, come to some second-best outcome that would also be more advantageous than where we are today."

The talk of compromise may have been a gaffe in the classic sense of letting the truth slip out in an unguarded moment. Estate tax repeal seems unlikely to pass; I suspect if it could get the 60 needed Senate votes, it would have passed already. It will only come to a vote to help burnish Senator Frist's credentials in his bid for the presidency in 2008.

      Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit